


Piebald - Crazy Cat Tale Version

by cutsycat



Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [1407]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-16 18:24:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21275687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/pseuds/cutsycat
Summary: Tony and Gibbs continue searching the cave, but trouble is not done finding them.





	Piebald - Crazy Cat Tale Version

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jane_x80](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jane_x80/gifts).

> Another dictionary.com word of the day drabble. This time from 03/08/2003 for the word [piebald](http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/2003/03/08/piebald).
> 
> piebald[ pahy-bawld ]  
adjective  
having patches of black and white or of other colors; parti-colored.  
noun  
a piebald animal, especially a horse.
> 
> This is for jane_x80 as it's her comments that led to this series starting. You can find the comments on previous entries in the series. 
> 
> This is a continuation of [Portend](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8885206), [Ratiocination](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8907304), [Equivocate](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8919556)... [Desideratum - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13775349), [Farrago - Crazy Cat Tale](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13813989), [Proclivity - Crazy Cat Tale](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13888944), [Recalcitrant - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14030937), [Collude - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15263964), [Vociferous - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15491991), [Fulminate - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15659430), [Chagrin - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16019081), [Tortuous - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16028429), [Perspicacity - Cracy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16130096), [Hirsute - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16694437), [Recondite - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17473211), [Fortuitous - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18732697), [Legerdemain - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18777826), [Moiety - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18826204), [Mercurial - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18883795), [Effulgence - Crazy Cat Tale](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19101709), [Cadre - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19201240), [Clarion - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19251184), [Beneficence - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19305271), [Foment - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19447312), [Encumbrance - Crazy Cat Tale](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19740205), [Meticulous - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19791220), [Irrefragable - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19897759), [Posit - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20001178), [Propinquity - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20080516), [Subfusc - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20121871), [Pugilist - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20177194), [Provenance - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20324389), [Gloaming - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20375050), [Apparition - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20449217), [Consanguineous - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20578469), [Introspection - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20675891), [Obdurate - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20928812), [Spurious - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20960231), [Sub Rosa - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21043940), [Aggress - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21093449), and [Grandee - Crazy Cat Tale Version](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21133721).
> 
> As always comments, kudos, and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated.

Tony knew Gibbs was getting impatient with their lack of success and honestly Tony was too. Tony was also starting to feel the pull of the forest of temptation again. Given they were still in the cave, Tony wondered if that meant they were near the entrance. That would suck if it were true because they still hadn’t found the chamber with the machines that Tony had found when looking for Gibbs. 

Gibbs’ roar startled Tony out of his thoughts and he turned his attention back to the maze and what was in front of them. If he had eyebrows in this form, one of them would have receded up to his hairline. Piebald was the only description he could come up with for the animal in front of him and it didn’t look at all like natural colors for the alligator.

Random black and white spots with no even spacing like one would normally see and Tony couldn't help wondering if Kasey had done something to it or if it was actually natural. Tony would have preferred to chat instead of fight, but it was obvious the alligator wasn't interested in talking. Ordering Gibbs behind him, Tony prepared to take out another apex predator.

It was a little easier than the Komodo dragon, but not by much. The alligator surprised Tony, however, as it surrendered when it became obvious that it was going to lose instead of forcing Tony to kill it. Apparently, it too had a mate that it was bonded to somewhere in the cave system and finding her was more important than his pride.

That made Tony wonder what Kasey's end goal was. He'd thought she was related to the prophecy somehow, but if this cave involved more than just trying to break Tony and Gibbs' bond then maybe there was more going on besides the prophecy. Maybe Kasey wasn’t actually an enemy like they thought?

Tony’s mind whirled with possibilities. He wanted to find out more about how the alligator had come to be here and what he knew. He invited the alligator to join them on their search explaining that they were looking for a room with machines because the bond had been damaged between them somehow.

The alligator smugly pointed out that their bond could probably be fixed through sex without a machine. Tony and Gibbs exchanged glances and then simultaneously shook their heads, not in these forms. Though if they couldn’t fix the bond before they left the cave, they could try that once Gibbs was back to normal or at least in an adult panther form.

Tony prodded the alligator to explain how he and his mate ended up here. The alligator shrugged, offering something along the lines of a bright light appeared and then they were here. Or at least Tony thought that’s what he was saying, interpreting other animal languages was not exactly one of Tony’s strong suits.

They continued walking along the corridor with the alligator going ahead of them a bit. Tony winced when Kasey appeared again. What did she want now?

“You!” Kasey barked at the alligator, “You’re supposed to be fighting them not helping them.”

The alligator leveled a glare at Kasey and tried to take a bite out of her. Kasey hopped backwards out of the way and returned the glare. “If you won’t fight them, I’ll find someone else to fight you both,” she warned as she vanished again.

“Guess we’re in this together now,” Tony murmured to the alligator.

The alligator nodded and nudged open a door. It was the room with machines that Tony had found earlier. 

“Wow. We were really close when she appeared.”

The alligator left them to investigate the room. He still had to find his mate before the machines would do him any good. That’s assuming, of course, that Kasey didn’t change the layout of the cave on them again. At least, Tony and Gibbs were with the machines and wouldn’t be separated from them if she did now. 

Gibbs looked at the machines, nosing a couple, before growling, “Can you even operate any of these?”

“One way to find out,” Tony grinned, turning back to his human form. “Which of these was the one Kasey used on you?”

“All of them,” Gibbs hissed.

“All of them?” Tony stepped back in shock. Why could nothing about this journey be easy? With a sigh, Tony stepped up to the first machine and tried to figure out how it worked. 

If Kasey had used all of the machine on Gibbs, there was no telling which one messed with the bond or if all of them did and they’d have to use them in some specific order to get Gibbs back into the bond. Maybe they would be better off seeking the wise cat lady and then using sex to cement the bond again.

Tony wasn’t terrible with computers, but he was nowhere near McGee or Abby’s skill either. He could generally make a computer do what he wanted, but putting one together from scratch? No way. He could usually pick up electronics if they were designed well, but he had a sneaking suspicion that all of these machines were designed to be as confusing as possible to prevent them from having their effects reversed on accident.

The first machine appeared to have a compartment operated by a pulley. Tony looked at it for a while, but there didn’t seem to be any levers or buttons or anything besides the pulley. “Ok, Gibbs. Step in and I’ll raise you up.”

Gibbs mewed and did as Tony asked. Tony quickly pulled the rope down and Gibbs started moving upwards. Nothing seemed to happen, but Tony continued pulling until Gibbs was all the way at the top of the machine.

Tony held Gibbs there for a few minutes in hopes that something would happen. After 10 minutes, he was growing tired given he still had backpacks on and finally let go of the rope slowly until Gibbs was back at ground level. 

Gibbs bounded out of the machine excitedly. “That was fun. Can we do it again?”

**Author's Note:**

> The dictionary.com series has 3 stories already written for it after this one, so I will be posting at least 3 more stories before I stop posting again. I have 1 Crazy Cat Tale update written, but it's not one of the 3 for the dictionary.com series). Hopefully I'll get more written soon. Wish me luck!
> 
> It's 2019 now and I have closed my 2018 Prompt collection, but fear not my 2019 Prompt Collection is now open [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2019/profile). Just click the sign up link. ;) It will remain open until the beginning of 2020. I'm hoping to complete all the 2019 prompts by the end of 2020. Do not fear I have not forgotten about the 2018 prompts and will continue working through them. It's just easier for me to not get overwhelmed if I keep the prompts separated by the year they were given to me.
> 
> If you are not an ao3 member, you can prompt me [here](http://cutsycat.livejournal.com/50701.html). Please follow the same rules as are listed in the above link. However, because this is a handmade prompt form(that thinks it's a poll), it is considerably more limited than what ao3 provides, so please use the ao3 form if you're an ao3 member. Please note the name option is for a name that I can say this is for so that you know it's for you. Since this is for non ao3 members it won't be true gifts, but you will be mentioned in the notes. Please note if you have already voted in the poll and would like to request more stories you can just add a comment to the poll. Please include the name along with the prompt, so that I can appropriately gift the prompt to you.
> 
> For any authors that want to chat and/or are looking for a place where they can toss plot ideas around and get input from people, you can come join my discord server that is specifically geared towards writing/encouraging people to write and authors. The invite link is [here](https://discord.gg/HFvwpCq). If you're not an author, but want to chat with me about writing/stories or anything else you are welcome to join. I reserve the right to boot you from my server if all you do is pester me about updates, however. *grin* Really anyone who wants to talk about writing and/or plot ideas for various stories is welcome to join. 
> 
> Also, Drakonyashka has translated a couple of my works into Russian. [Tutelage](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378780) and [Imbue](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378840). Go support them. 


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